Comments:

Today I ordered 3 Tomato plants from Burpee's. I was unaware of the many negatives of this company. However, I will give them a positive until they prove different and then I will post results. The reason I ordered so early was to be sure I got first dibbs on the good plants. Will post later with results.

Posted on March 8, 2012, updated November 25, 2013
Posted on November 4, 2011, updated March 8, 2012
Posted on October 26, 2011, updated November 3, 2011
Posted on October 9, 2011, updated October 26, 2011
Posted on January 26, 2011, updated October 9, 2011
Posted on March 23, 2010, updated January 26, 2011
Posted on January 26, 2010, updated March 23, 2010
Posted on March 23, 2004, updated January 25, 2010
I got what I ordered, in a timely fashion and in good condition. Germination was fine. I found this company to be reliable and predictable, though better prices are easy to find elsewhere.

On January 26th, 2010, taufgardner added the following:

2010 order received timely and in good condition. Burpee is consistent and I know what I'm getting. Big Mama tomato is a real winner for those who make sauce. One of the few "indeterminate" plum tomatoes and they are huge, with easy to peel thick skins.On March 23rd, 2010, taufgardner added the following:

I opened my "Big Mama" seeds to find most stuck to the adhesive in part of the seed packet. The germination was only about 40%, which is unusual in my experience with Burpee and this particular variety. I contacted Burpee and was given a no-hassle assurance that a replacement is on its way. I'm a little behind the curve now for planting by seed, but think the timing will be adequate if not ideal. One other note that is not a problem with Burpee: Big Mama is more susceptible to cold than other varieties. I like to set my plants out during the day from the get go in order for them to grow sturdily and slowly in natural sunlight. This process is labor intensive, but has served me well. I got a cooler than expected day (but no frost) and lost all of the Big Mama that did germinate. The other tomatoes and peppers all did fine. So be careful in the cold with Big Mama. Although this particular seed experience (germination and packaging) hasn't been stellar, Burpee has given standard, reliable service over the many years I've ordered from them, so I know what to expect. Plus, they promptly responded to this, the one and only concern I have ever had with them. So I'm leaving my rating positive and will definitely order from them again. On January 26th, 2011, taufgardner added the following:

Sorry I did not update last year after Burpee quickly replaced the aforementioned Big Mama tomato seeds. The next batch worked out fine, and did well enough that they were ready when I needed them. This year, Burpee was my primary supplier (out of about 10). I like their predictability and consistent results. A good company with solid results. Varieties are always true to type, germination rates at an acceptable level and customer service is good.On October 9th, 2011, taufgardner added the following:

The White Wedding Zinnia variety was the best zinnia I have ever grown. All flowers on all plants completely double. The giant Tetra were another story. I ordered a mix, but all of the flowers were one color and single flowering, not dahlia flowered as advertised. Not at all what I expected. The Biker Billy jalapeno was terrific. Large fruits and prolific, but not as hot as billed. That's okay, because the family doesn't like the heat, but don't buy if you're expecting hotter than usual jalapenos. My results were actually milder than usual (and I planted normal jalapenos right next to the Biker Billy). The Brandy Boy tomato started out slow, but really picked up a head of steam and was the most prolific and consistent variety I grew this year. However, beware that this is a tomato that is thin skinned, easy to bruise, and does not hold well. All in all, my experience with Burpee is predictable and solid so I'll keep my review positive, but I am somewhat mixed in my opinion this year, due to less consistent results than usual.On October 26th, 2011, taufgardner added the following:

On October 14th, I received a gracious response from Marsha, a customer service rep from Burpee, inquiring about the Tetra zinnia lot number, etc. for investigation. She offered a replacement. I did not feel this was necessary as my overall value from Burpee is great. She further explained that the jalapeno's heat will vary depending on growing conditions. I know that she is right and am certain that different varieties will react differently to conditions, even when planted by each other. I reiterate that the Biker Billy is a real winner and that I will plant again, likely instead of other jalapeno varieties. We liked it that much. Thanks to Burpee for good customer response and for providing consistent seeds and service year after year. On November 3rd, 2011, taufgardner added the following:

Very appreciative of Burpee's response to a comment I made on this site. I was not seeking any sort of replacement and feel my overall experience with Burpee is very positive and consistent. I never contacted them directly, Burpee reached out to me after reading my earlier review. In spite of my not requesting or even feeling that I needed replacement seeds, Marsha still sent some replacement seeds on her own accord. Very gracious, and I appreciated that.On March 8th, 2012, taufgardner added the following:

Another great year! Seeds came timely, germination was as expected. Am always satisfied with Burpee purchases. No unpleasant surprises. Good results.On November 25th, 2013, taufgardner added the following:

This year, I tried Super Mama tomato. I LOVED this sauce tomato. Each plant was LOADED with HUGE and meaty tomatoes. Although I thought they were to be indeterminate, their habit was determinate. Ended up liking that as the tomatoes all came during a good time window. I ended up getting about 5 bushels from three plants.

I ordered other seeds as well. If I want consistent, true to type seeds, I order from Burpee. In my experience through several years of growing at a level and quantity beyond a home gardener, but not at a commercial scope, I have not been disappointed with the reliability of Burpee.

Called Burpee customer service on 11/5/13 to make sure the seeds I wanted were in stock. Everything I wanted was in stock. I proceeded to place my order right then over the phone. I was assured my order would be in my mailbox in 7 days....my order was in my mailbox on 11/9/13--> 4 days later! I am a "seasoned" gardener, and Burpee vegetable seeds have never failed me. I have been eyeing their website for weeks, patiently waiting for their "2014 exclusive" seed line-up. When I checked on 11/5/13 and saw it was online, I was on the phone! Thank you Burpee for consistently having great seeds. And thank you * Robin * in Burpee customer service for your kind help........Laurene

I have ordered seeds from burpee about 15 times over the years. I always get what I order and it is shipped on time. I have ordered seeds from other companies too, but Burpee has become my go to for seeds. I have always had success with their seeds and they have a nice selection and nice prices.

I have never ordered live plants from them. I live in Houston, so I have a lot of better options around for live plants. This is the main reason I have never ordered live plants from them.

I have also never had to contact their customer service for any reason, so I do not have any information to share in that regards.

I placed an order on July 21, 2013 for a variety of tulips, I received my order today 10/16/2013, thinking my order was fulfilled only to find that Mother's Love Tulips was substituted with Red Riding Hood Tulips, which I already had ordered.Now, i figured that by placing my order early Burpee would have at least reserved these Tulips for me or at least let me know, so I had the option of choosing a substitute.Instead they sent order confirmation misleading me to believe I was gonna get Mother's Love Tulips.I am upset to say the least and recommend to my fellow gardeners everywhere to never believe by placing an early order with Burpee, that you will actually get your item.It is a little late now for me to try to find the Tulips I desired, so now I will have to wait till next year but I will never order from Burpee anymore.

On Oct 16, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Oct 17, 2013 8:37 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

Many different factors impact our inventory levels of live goods. Our tulip bulbs are shipped directly from Holland and at times production issues may occur. When these issues occur, we try to substitute a similar variety for the original product selected, and we do apologize your original selection was not available to be sent to you.

After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on via direct mail on Dave’s Garden and via email to resolve this issue.

We hope you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

i've only ordered seeds from burpee so i can't comment on plant orders. i've gotten a few bad batches of seeds with poor germination rates but in general, i've been pleased with germination rates and the resulting plants. i have dozens of seed packets from them and will continue to order from them in the future. one of my order took over two weeks to arrive but all the other orders arrived fairly promptly.

Ordered 3 seedless tomato plants rather late because I couldn't find locally. Live plants arrived three days after on-line shipping notice in excellent condition. Rest of order came 3 days after live plants. Well pleased. Distance apparently not a problem. Will not be hesitant next year to order from Burpee.

I thought that I had written a review for this company before I guess I have not.
I occasionally buy vegetable seeds from this company. I have had good results. They only have smaller amount of seeds in the packets on the seed racks so I will buy cantaloupes, peppers, cukes, etc. For corn, beans and okra for example, I will not buy from them because I need more seed. I am very satisfied with what I have purchased from them because the germination rates are dependable.

Posted on May 26, 2013, updated June 1, 2013
I've ordered from Burpee in the distant past and never had a problem. However, due to their link with Monsanto, I cannot with good conscience order from them again until they sever ties with any company that produces GMO seed. Goodbye Burpee.

On June 1st, 2013, sandwalker added the following:

As long as Burpee is buying seed from Seminis, then Burpee is supporting companies whose main goal is the production and proliferation of GMO seeds. Seminis is a subsidiary of Monsanto.

Burpee implying it is not involved in GMO seeds is preposterous! As long as Burpee is sending money to Seminis, Burpee is sending money to Monsanto and therefore supporting GMO seed production. Until Burpee makes a commitment NOT to do business with any company involved with GMO seed production, then myself and thousands of others will NOT BE DOING BUSINESS WITH BURPEE. We have been trying to tell Burpee that for quite some time now and they just don't seem to get it.On Jun 1, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On May 31, 2013 8:47 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Burpee is the nation's leading purveyor of both heirloom and hybrid vegetables seeds and transplants. Burpee purchases seeds from a select list of suppliers throughout the world including Seminis. However, none of the seeds purchased from Seminis or any other supplier are GMO. Burpee has never bred or sold GMO seeds and does not intend to do so in the future.

After the experience I've had, I would not recommend Burpee to anyone. If you don't feel like reading the rest, I'll just say that their lousy shipping method killed the live plants they were sending me, and their customer service is lacking. Read below for the full details.

I placed an order on April 14th for three live plants, with the understanding that they would ship around April 29th or so (due to different growing seasons). April 29th came and went, and I received no shipping notice. I finally called on May 12th to ask what was going on, and why my order hadn't shipped. Their brilliant customer service rep kept telling me that it could arrive the next day... even though it hadn't shipped yet. Guess what. It didn't arrive on the 13th. Big surprise.

The shipping notice came on May 16th. Then I waited. And waited. And waited.

I was excited to finally receive the package on May 23rd. Talk about slow shipping, especially for live plants! My spirits were crushed though when I opened the box and discovered that the two little tomato plants were badly, badly wilted, and nearly dead.

I emailed customer service that day to complain and to ask for expedited shipping on replacement plants since I had been waiting so long already. I received a timely, but abrupt reply which lacked appropriate capitalization. It said that they were shipping replacements to me. No mention of shipping type or speed.

I called again today (May 29th) to inquire about the status of my replacements, and to request expedited shipping if they had not been sent yet. I was told that there was no way at all for them to expedite shipping on anything. I finally asked to speak with a supervisor, and the representative said that he would take my number and that she (the supervisor) would call me back as soon as she gets a chance.

Not surprisingly, my phone never rang. However, I did mysteriously get another shipping notification by email not long after I called. Same slow shipping method as last time. So here I am, six weeks after placing my order, waiting for replacements to arrive, and hoping that they don't die en route too. All of our other tomatoes have been in the ground at the garden for two weeks already. My poor tomatoes (if they survive this journey) will be off to a very late start.

I think they owe me an apology and a refund. I didn't pay $22.00+ for dead plants, slow shipping, and lousy customer service. I don't think I'll ever buy from Burpee again.

On May 29, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:57 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on May 31, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

Order of 3 tomato plants, with all 3 plants limp with stems unable to support plants upon arrival. As I was in the garden when plants arrived, they were all planted according to the package directions within 10 minutes of arrival, with sun and wind protection; temperature in the upper 60's, a plastic pot with the bottom cut out, placed around the plants at time of planting. 24 hours later, two plants (Big Boy and Brand boy) are barely alive, but with leaves that are not wilted, so I believe they will recover. The sauce tomato hybrid appears dead, with wilted leaves and no support from the main stem). Purchasing tomato plants from the local grocery or hardware store would have been a better choice, even if I would not have gotten the desired hybrids.

On May 24, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:55 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on June 3, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

I placed an order online to Burpee on March 30, 2013. It was for a Goji Berry Plant-in a 3" pot. It arrived on April 26, having spent 8 days in transit ! The plant was essentially dead- all the soil was out of the pot, and all the leaves were brown. I took a photo and called Burpee's customer service- the rep. told me that a live plant should NEVER be shipped on a Thursday and spend 8 days in transit. She was very helpful, and reordered the plant for me. This was 5 weeks ago, and after several emails & phone calls by me (none of which were satisfactory) today I got a shipping confirmation from UPS that the plant was being shipped today, and scheduled arrival was May 31-(8 days from now!) I called and voiced my resistance to another 8 day journey- I said I know the plant will be dead-again! I get US Priority packages from FL all the way to here- WA in 2 days. I asked to speak to someone from the nursery that shipped it, but that is not possible. This has all been totally frustrating and I will NEVER do business with Burpee again.

On May 23, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:54 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on June 3, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

I ordered three 'Fireworks" Gomphrenas from Burpee's. The plants were wilted and falling out of their pots and most of the dirt was in the bottom of the box. I sent an email to Burpee's customer service and got an immediate reply asking whether I wanted a refund or replacement plants. That doesn't make up for the fact that the plants were in horrible shape to start with, however.

On May 17, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:52 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on May 20, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

Ordered for the first time from Burpee.
2 packets of California poppies-
one sup'd to have 350 seeds
the other sup'd to have 100. They cost me 5.00 and 4.00/per packet. Expensive compared to other companies.$6.00 shipping.
The one had (generously) maybe 100-150 seeds. The other had 30 seeds (I have a seed spreader, and I actually counted how many seeds.)
I called and they are going to send me more, but I am burning mad.
1st- my seeding is now another week behind.
2nd- this must be their standard practice. It isn't logical that I order two packets and both have less than have of the number of seeds, unless this is their usual practice. And the reason they keep doing this is bec. they can. I bet most people don't complain. I'll never order from then, and I'll make sure no one I garden with ever does either.

On May 7, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:40 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

After reviewing your comments we reached out to you via direct mail on May 8, 2013. We hope you feel the matter was resolved in just and timely manner.

Last year I ordered seeds and plants from Burpee. My seed germination rate was about 99% for quite a variety of flowers and vegetables In fact, last year’s lettuce is once again thriving this spring with no help whatsoever from me. I had a few failures (pink Lily of the Valley and White Calla Lily) which were all refunded when I called the company. (with an apology “I’m sorry it died.”) Great customer service. Excellent packaging and shipping. Some of the tiny flower seeds are shipped in a mini plastic tube in the package and are brightly colored so you can see them. Some items shipped early due to March 2012 being more like summer. I also use quite a few bags of the Burpee Wildflower North American Mix seeds and the results are exceptional. A few of the smaller flowers bloomed all through winter. Last year in August I planted four types of sunflowers with success and this year I planted 15 types starting in mid-March including the Strawberry Blonde Hybrid “The first rose-pink sunflower!” As of mid-April, they are sprouting right on schedule. (direct sow Zone 7b)
The Burpee website is very user friendly – it’s great for planning your flower and vegetable garden. I appreciate all the How To information and customer reviews. I am also impressed by all the new introductions for flowers and vegetables and decided to try planning the On Deck Hybrid Corn – which I planted in the garden and in a large container. I am glad I ordered early as the On Deck Hybrid Corn is listed as “sold out” in mid-April. The printed catalogs and website both feature stunning true-to-life photos that certainly motivate my buying habits.

Ordered two Echinacea Pink Double Delight plants. Paid approx 11.50 each with a discount and had free shipping. For the price, I expected decent sized plants. Plants are very, very small. Very small. They are in 4" containers and one is about 1 1/2" tall and about 3" in circumference. The second is half that size. Packaging was almost non-existent. One container was completely emptied within the box and the plant out of the container. Did I mention that the shipping box has large holes so the dirt which emptied out of the container was also coming out of the box? It looks like both plants were recently repotted into the containers that they were shipped in as the one plant that fell completely out had it's roots in a compact ball. I am certain with TLC I can get the smaller, tramatized plant to grow, but I shouldn't have to. I should be receiving plants in beautiful condition, yes? I am re-doing a bed and have ordered from many places the past few weeks. This is the first situation I have had like this.

On Apr 26, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:38 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

After reviewing your comments we reached out to you via direct mail on April 29, 2013. We hope you feel the matter was resolved in just and timely manner.

Order placed on 4/11 for eggplant supports and Hydrangea Everlasting Revolution with free shipping and $10 off. Regular price for Hydrangea is $26.95, it is overpriced. Full payment was charged on 4/12.

On 4/16 contacted customer service to check order status. I was told that:
1) they are in peak season, long delivery date is to be expected.
2) delivery dates posted online are incorrect. Hydrangea won't be delivered until the week of May1. Eggplant supports should be delivered from the warehouse within a couple of days.
3) I can cancel the order if I don't want to wait.

On 4/17, received shipment confirmation for the eggplant supports. Until today 4/20, the UPS tracking # still not showing the expected delivery date, the shipment is still in the orgin scan place, PA state. (I have placed a lot of online orders, I have never seen this happened with UPS.)

Just contacted Burpee customer service. I was told that:
1) they ship UPS the same way as the others. They don't know why the UPS delivery date is still not showing. If I don't see any shipment progress, I can call UPS, there is nothing they can do about it.
2) customer complaints can be seen anywhere on the internet as I mentioned other customer had complainted the tracking problem on Dave's Garden.
3) I can cancel the order if I want to. I can return the eggplant supports at their own shipping cost.

The way their customer representatives answered you is very irritating and so irresponsible. Burpee doesn't care about any customer complaints and doesn't welcome any customers not happy with their shipping problem.

Even though I placed the order mainly because of the Hydrangea, I have decided to cancel out the whole order. I will return the eggplant supports. Thank God that my order is free shipping, so I don't have to waste the shipping charge. NO more business with Burpee. Dump the catalog to trash bin.

God bless me that I will get my full refund without too much problems. Worry about the eggplant supports return.

On Apr 20, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:35 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

After reviewing your comments we reached out to you via direct mail on May 31, 2013. We hope you feel the issue was resolved in just and timely manner.

I placed a small order because they had something I couldn't find from my usual sources. That variety was quite expensive, but even more expensive from another company. The seed count was correct and they were packaged in tubes to avoid crushing, a plus with such expensive seeds. I ordered a couple of other things too and all of them germinated well. Also, they arrived quickly so my experience was quite good.

Every year Burpee gets worse! I always tried to figure out a way to take the blame for something I may have done to account for Burpee's poor seed germination and this year answered the question. I planted 8 different kinds of peppers, all in the same seed flat. After a few weeks in the germination incubator, my problem was answered. 7 out of the 8 had the usual Burpee germination rate=2 sprouts out of 20 on average. Every year thier seed packs get smaller(wieght by millionth of a gram now!) and the germination drops another 10 % down to where now only 10 % is the germ. rate. The bad part of that was the one pack out of the eight had over 90% germ. rate in the same flat/enviroment as the others. The Patio Pleaser Peppers had the same germination as my own saved seeds-over 90%. It's pretty bad when Burpee's makes themselves look bad when comparing thier own seeds with each other. I have seeds that are over 15 years old that are NOT Burpee's that have better germ. rates then the 7 out 8 seed packs. I figure Burpee's seeds must be well over twenty years old to be so close to the edge of non-germination besides being brown/black in seed color. If only Burpee would of tested the Patio Pleasers and seen that they out perform by ten fold thier other seeds, they shouldn't of sold them so to have nothing good to compare to. Most of Burpee seeds are raised over seas and few are from the U.S.A. I would love to grow Burpee seeds here in the U.S.A. but the problem is that they too would out-perform thier other seeds and make the rest look bad like the Patio Pleasers did. I was ok when I was only able to compare Burpee's bad seeds with all the other bad seeds of thiers in the past years, and I would of been better off if I never would of got a good seed of theirs to make the rest look so bad and realize its not something wrong that I've been doing.
As far as Burpee's having a nice variety of seeds, that they do! I planted thier Chinese Giants two years ago and I swear no two plants where of the same variety. I would think if thier seeds are over twenty years old, that they would know whats not true to variety by now and not continue selling them. I was always told that a seed variety must breed true for 5 years running to become a variety and if thats the case, they got another 6 more years to go on the Chinese Giants variety. Burpee's reps are always quick to put the blame of poor results on the grower since they claim they have way better results then I do and it s got to be something I've done wrong, well, how is it my fault for the mixed variety? The answer is truely that it IS my fault for buying thier seeds in the first place. When will I ever learn?
To top that off, their seeds are worth more than GOLD! Here's the math! There are 165,000 tomatoe seeds in a pound or 10,312 seeds in an ounce. Burpee's Steak Sandwich Hybrid seed pack (45 mg-about half the size of a baby aspirin!) contains 22 seeds(counting 2-3 half seed pieces!). That works out to 469 seed packs @ $2.49/pack=$1167.81 an ounce! Now if your lucky and get a 50% germination rate, that comes to $2335.62 an ounce for growable seeds!! Yes, Its cheaper to by your wife a gold necklace than one made from Burpee's tomatoe seeds! Good thing Burpee's Steak Sandwich Hybrid seeds come from China with cheap labor because could you imagine how much Burpee would have to charge if they where grown in the U.S.A. and have to pay probably minimum wage at that! No wonder the seeds are so old, at 45 mg. a pack, it probably would take 20 years to sell a bag of seeds big enough to ship here from China!

On Apr 13, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:59 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on April 16, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

I ordered over $50.00 of seeds almost 4 weeks ago. Then I received an email that stated my order had shipped. The email provided a tracking number without stating the actual shipper. I tried tracking the order thru UPS, FedEX and USPS to no avail. The tracking number was never found on any of them.

First: why wasn't the shipper disclosed?
Second: why would it take 2-3 days for the tracking number to be available on the "shipper's tracking system? Our company uses UPS and FedEx to ship our goods and the tracking info is available within hours.

Sadly, we never did find any usable tracking information using the tracking number provided by Burpee.

We eventually contacted Burpee and informed them that we did not receive our seeds. Burpee then cancelled the original order and placed a new order for our seeds. Then several days later, we received a notice of shipment of our seeds. Unfortunately, the same poor information appears on the email. No shipper is disclosed. The tracking number does not work on UPS, FedEx or USPS.

We are very disappointed with this situation. As you certainly know, customers order seeds early to begin the germination process indoors so as to provide a bigger seedlings when the outdoor season begins. Now we are at least 3 weeks behind, IF WE EVER RECEIVE this reorder.

While we have for many, many years used Burpee seeds, we are unlikely to ever order Burpee seeds online again.

I contacted Burpee's customer service. Their sole response was "The package should arrive Friday. Have a nice day."

On Apr 10, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 4:00 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on April 10, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

Purchased a package of Burpee seeds (Better Boy) at retail store for $1.99. The package was for 50 mg. weight but only contained five seeds. Emailed company concerning disappointment with quantity of seeds in packet. Was told their prices are determined by costs and no offer of compensation made. Dissatisfied with answer I called company and asked to talk to person in authority. That person was the one who answered my email. Again went through spill about costs involved and that since I got five plants up from the five seeds planted I should be satisfied with the 100% germination and that Burpee seeds were superior to other sellers seeds so price was justified. Was told that their catalog had package of thirty seeds selling for $6.50. Looked up on internet and they're listed for $3.95/30 seeds. Asked for refund of price or coupon for another pack of seeds. Would like to see if all retail packages only had five seeds but was refused any compensation. Again told their seeds were superior to others. I've been gardening a long time and know this is not the case. Will never buy Burpee seeds again, either retail or catalog. Apparently customer satisfaction has no priority with them.

On Mar 21, 2013, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

"On Sep 4, 2013 4:03 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on March 21, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

Posted on May 12, 2009, updated March 7, 2013
With some trepidation after reading the reports here, I ordered 12 tomato plants at a whopping price of almost 60$ including shipping. They arrived about 2 weeks later (good) but 4 of the 12 (one third!) are completely ruined. They look like they have been through the blender! The others look fair or okay--only a little broken and messed up. Three are iffy; the others should make it. I think their shipper must have used the box for baseball practice and then put it by a heat vent in 90 degree weather. The ruined plants were just SLIME. The packaging appeared to be sturdy and the box was not damaged, so I think the shipper did not take the proper care. For the price of shipping they should have HAND carried to me!

We will see tomorrow what kind of reply I get from customer service, and I will post back here.

On May 15th, 2009, lilygrandma changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:

I am changing my rating to neutral. I am pleased to report that Burpee contacted me through this forum quickly. I also (after about 20 minutes on hold) got to speak to someone who promised to refund the money for the ruined plants, and encouraged me to call back if the others, which were not in great shape, did not make it. I am coddling them, but a couple look pretty iffy. I will post back on how long the refund takes.

Unfortunately waiting another 2 or more weeks to get the plants replaced was not feasible, and the service rep could not promise I would ever get some of the plants. So I chose the refund.

I really think Burpee needs to look at their shipping process. It hurts to see plants mistreated so badly. Next year I will get seeds from Totally Tomatoes, probably, and grow my own. I did some this year for plants I could not get, and it worked out pretty well.

My previous experiences with Burpee in years past have been good. I hope they can get some of these bugs (heh heh) worked out.On March 7th, 2013, lilygrandma changed the rating from neutral to positive and added the following:

Great, quick service. Hate how expensive they have become, but if the seeds are as good as usual I will be molified.

I've never had any issues with Burpee customer service or their products, but I am giving them a neutral rating simply because of their outrageous prices - they are one of the highest retailers out there and their prices for most of their seeds is crazy.

I have ordered from Burpee from time to time and have no real problems. I tend towards ordering vegetable seeds, and only rarely flower seeds. The seeds have been of good quality, and produced excellent results. While I now look for seeds coming from smaller producers, I have to praise them for what they have done for me. The one time I had problems, sunflower seeds that turned out to be the wrong color and corn seeds with poor germination, the company immediately offered a refund with no problems, which I received quickly.

Due to the pretty bad reviews for Burpee here, I've not ordered from them at all. But I got an email from them touting their new hybrid container corn. Who doesn't want to be able to grow sweet corn in a container? So I ordered 2 packets along with 2 packets of tomato seeds. So far so good. I received the full order in a very timely manner, packed well. All that remains is seeing how good the germination rate is and watch some growth. As of right now, I'm rating them positive as they served me well with my order.

The only reason I'm not strictly positive right now is because of customer service. I made a call in to ask about how well their tulips perrenialize. She responded that a supervisor would call me to let me know. They never did. It doesn't matter, now, as I ordered them, anyway. I'll just have to find out from experience. I will probably update it to positive if all of the plants do well or I have good service if they don't.

I will try to remember to update the next few years with how they are doing and anything else I order and how they are doing.

I think it’s probably just human nature that we tend to post comments about vendors when we have a problem with them. I certainly have done so here in the past. But when I put together my list of recommended seed suppliers for a Senior Gardening posting this year, I realized that I should make a positive comment here about each of our suppliers that have performed so well over the years.

Burpee was the first mail order seed catalog we used almost forty years ago. Over the years, we got away from using them in favor of other vendors such as Stokes, Johnny’s, and Twilley. But in the last few years, we’ve gotten back to using Burpee for items such as garlic, Mr. Big peas, and several flower varieties.

We’ve not had to make a claim on any seed or supplies ordered from Burpee over the years. That says a lot.

I got a promotional offer from Burpee in my email box today for 20 percent off their berry plants. My birthday is coming up so I thought I'd order a few of their (ridiculously high priced) raspberry bushes. When I went to check out, the message I was given was that I would not finalize my order until all was well. Well, there was no place to enter the discount code, but I kept on going, relying on the promise,and found I'd checked out without the 20 percent off.

I called Burpee, and I was annoyed, because this just seemed so shady, and how many customers just let that go and pay the extra money? I didn't like that. I was going to cancel but decided I'd wait. The rep made the adjustment to the price of my order and said she'd email me with an acknowledgement.

So I got an email telling me that my credit card had been debited for the wrong amount. Furthermore, I was told the order would not ship for another 2 weeks. I order a lot on the Net, and the normal practice is to debit my card when the items are shipped, not at the moment of order, and with all the mixup Burpee has with their ordering, not even providing a place to put in the discount code -- it irked me.

So I called and cancelled the order. I was told they would not refund my money for a week. They get to keep my money for a week after wasting 2 hours of my time and giving me nothing but headaches. I see no reason why I have to wait a week for them to refund my money. With thousands of customers, if this is their normal practice, this gives the owners of this company access to a lot of free money.

I'm sick of dishonest greedy corporates. I filed a complaint against them with the Pennsylvania Attorney General.

This year gardening was challenging with dry, extremely hot weather. I planted Big Daddy Tomatoes from Burpee seed. I didn't get them set out until late, but they did well and exceeded my others. Also,I planted their new stringless Italian type pole bean. They did not set beans early because of the weather, but when it began to cool in August they began to set on in abundance. I have never seen more beautiful beans! I am very excited about both varieties! Burpee has always been considered a quality company by me in my many years of gardening experience.

I had a fifteen year old unopened pack of Lobelia Crystal Palace seeds by Burpee. Inside the pack is a smaller "Life Lock" packet. The seeds are very tiny and numerous. I planted all of them in a hanging basket and it seems most germinated! I thinned them down to a few plants which are growing well and blooming.

Burpee was the first garden catalog I ever received as a five-year-old gardener, and I'm from Pennsylvania, so I'm sure nostalgia influences my favorable impressions of this company.

This year, however, I've been impressed with an array of discounted and free shipping (no minimum) offers I've received from their company emails. I had one rare perennial plant I was eying up for a while, and I was able to have it shipped for free, just one plant! It's been growing beautifully. Started small at the end of may and now it's HUGE and happy in a difficult spot in my garden.

In twenty-five years of ordering, I've never been disappointed. I will say that their common plants/seeds are overpriced, but they do have some rarer varieties which are priced fairly. Add free shipping, and you're good to go!

Last year 2011, I purchased two Echinacea, Double Scoop Raspberry and Pomegranate. I wanted to write to let you know I love those plants and they have bloomed for me for weeks. I have not seen them yet available many places and I am sure glad that I purchased them from your company. They are certainly my favorite of all that I have and I do have many.
Marilyn Chrest

I placed a $70 seed order for fall planting on July 19, 2012. On July 26, I had not received the seeds, so I logged onto the site to check the order status. The website indicated that the order had not yet shipped, so I called Burpee for more information. I was told they were doing inventory in the warehouse, but it was nearly complete and the seeds would ship that same day. The next day (July 27), I logged onto the site to check the status again. Still, the site indicated that the order had not shipped. Beginning to get nervous about my fall planting schedule, I called Burpee again. Once again, I was told the seeds would ship "today". The following Monday, July 30, I logged on to the site to find the same message ("Order not yet shipped"). I figured maybe it just hadn't updated, so I would wait another day. On Tuesday, July 31, I logged in again to find the same message.

Now 12 days after I placed the order, I called Burpee to check the status again. I was informed that they were still doing inventory and that it would be complete within the "next few business days", upon which the order would ship. This now being totally unacceptable, that they had strung me along for 12 days leading me to believe the order was on the verge of shipping, I could not afford to lose any more growing days so I cancelled my order.

I placed an order with Pinetree Seeds, as they seem to have great reviews online, not to mention, I got more seeds than my $70 order at Burpee and it only came to $33! A little bit of customer service would have gone a long way in Burpee's case.

I ordered several packets of seeds for my Fall planting, and they arrived in 3 business days. They were packed securely and I received what I ordered. I found their website to be very helpful and informative, and their prices to be reasonable. I found the transaction to be pleasant and I suggest purchasing from them.

Posted on July 23, 2012, updated July 23, 2012
Posted on July 19, 2012, updated July 23, 2012
Posted on July 7, 2012, updated July 19, 2012
I moved back into gardening territory two years ago. I remember my Dad ordering from Burpee. He always let me grow something from them. Never any problems.
Now that I am back, I have ordered twice from them (two growing seasons in a row). I like their tomato cages, and accessories. They make sense.
I remember the count of seeds being on the packages (so important with veggies), and this seems a way of the past. They should go back to that system, and of putting MORE into each package. But they are not alone, so I do not cast a negative their way.
I have bought perennials from them in both orders, and they arrived just fine, with proper planting instructions.
All told, I will order from them again. What I really appreciate is their catalog arriving in the dreary winter, giving me allot of time to plan out my vegetable garden.

On July 19th, 2012, Gracye changed the rating from positive to negative and added the following:

How very sad. Now I MUST cast a negative rating. At the end of placing a recent Internet order, I was given an offer to give feedback with the promise of "free shipping" on a future order. The catch? I had to sign onto Facebook! I found this out after I'd spent time writing supportive words about them.

I do not have, nor will I, create a Facebook account in order to comply. I surely wish this had been stated BEFORE I spent time on behalf of them.

I sent an email to Burpee, stating that this process seemed unfair (totally excluding those without Facebook accounts). I asked Burpee to look at my account to judge my loyalty (and seriousness). Easily, in two years, I have spent over $500.00 with them.

The reply was "this is a one-time offer and will not reappear, and in this day of computerization..." There was no effort to extend another offer. This was new to me, as customer satisfaction certainly was a trademark of the way Burpee answered my father's occasional questions, why he stayed with them, and a fond memory for me. This reply explained company policy and the changing world, so my reaction, and direction, is to change as well.

I will, as my dear father advised, "vote with my money." Thank you, Burpee, for giving me the reason to try other companies, after a lifetime of loyalty. And the catalog? Please don't send me another, for I cannot afford your "free offers."On July 23rd, 2012, Gracye added the following:

7/23/12: Burpee has refunded my shipping cost on last order. Forwarded my comments to their Marketing Department. The refund is greatly appreciated, but is not the answer to my original question, as others will encounter the same until there is positive change. My rating stays the negative, pending future correction.

I hope that some staffer (or the President) of Burpee will read the negative comments by my fellow Dave Gardeners, many old-time customers of Burpee's, to address the whole of the problem. I read them, after this experience, and realized that I had looked the other way in company loyalty while Dave Gardeners spoke up about problems that I, too, had encountered. No longer!

Too many companies are losing touch with their customers, and I hate to see this "American Institution" do the same.On July 23rd, 2012, Gracye changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:

This is my final comment on this company. Negative is changed to neutral, as the company again contacted me and explained their philosophy. They have different offers that appeal to different customers. Thank you, and I do hope that my effort was to some benefit.

I have only used Burpee over the last 2 months for one item...stainless steel plant markers, which are issued in groups of 25. The markers have been delivered extremely promptly, generally 1 day, and have worked well in my garden. Burpee has also generously included $5.00 and $10.00 off your next order coupons on 3 occasions. I cannot comment on the quality of their plants/seeds, but I am impressed with how they handle their "supply" orders!